Memories of Everybody
by jellinor
Summary: Fine grains of truth and make-believe, it is the stuff of dreams and nightmares. Bleach-universe character drabbles. [Oomaeda Marechiyo — Captain, My Captain.]
1. Sasakibe Choujirou – Tea Ceremony Club

Author's Note: Character drabbles to get my creative juices flowing again, in no particular order and following no particular timeline, character or story arc. Trying something new, and will gladly accept any requests and/or prompts.

Disclaimer throughout: I don't own _Bleach_.

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**Sasakibe Choujirou – The Tea Ceremony Club**

Not many Shinigami know that it was Sasakibe Choujirou who suggested First Division's Tea Ceremony Club, but everyone knows (indirectly, but still) that he was clever enough—and subtle enough—to let his captain think it was all his idea.


	2. Hinamori Momo – Hanging On

_Set ten-ish days after Aizen's defeat. Manga-centric._

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**Hinamori Momo – Hanging On**

Hinamori Momo's eyes are closed and her breathing is slow and even, but she isn't peaceful and she doesn't sleep. Instead, she drifts in and out of consciousness so often that she no longer can tell a dream from a dream; but, apparently, they are trying to regenerate her organs, and it sounds so awfully big and complicated that she wishes (in her more lucid moments, she thinks, though she isn't really sure of anything anymore) that they wouldn't try so hard to put her back together. Shattering into a million little pieces, over and over, is all she was ever good at, anyway; and mending was difficult enough the first time.

But she hangs on, somehow, because sometimes she thinks that she _sees_ (granted, through her eyelids and despite whatever it is that makes her sluggish and dull and not-in-pain), short glimpses of the people who care about her the most.

So she hangs on (_again_) with all the strength and all the skill of someone already half-broken.


	3. Kuchiki Byakuya – Too

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**Kuchiki Byakuya – Too**

The problem with Kuchiki Byakuya is not that he's a cold, heartless bastard who feels too little or too rarely, but that Kuchiki Byakuya, somehow, despite the grief and denial and _years _weighing down on his shoulders, still feels too much and much too often.


	4. Unohana Retsu – Senpai

_Because we all know that Unohana-taichou probably is the kick-assidest person there is._

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**Unohana Retsu – Senpai**

Unohana Retsu was not always calm and peaceful and nurturing, though only a few (nowadays, they are exactly two) still remember a time when Soul Society was younger and her hair much shorter. She _is_, however, fairly certain that the 'Old Guard' (courtesy of Shunsui-kun) won't ever betray her secrets; one is too tactful to indulge in pointless gossip while the other is too tactless to be taken seriously, bless them both. Still, should that not be enough, they better believe that senpai's still got it.


	5. Hitsugaya Toushirou – Free

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**Hitsugaya Toushirou – Free**

The most remarkable thing about Hitsugaya Toushirou is not his genius or (in)famous stick-in-the-mud attitude, but that he is young and wild and _free_ in a way that no other captain is. Or ever was.


	6. Abarai Renji – Loyalty

_Because Renji was Rukia's friend long before he became Byakuya's lieutenant, and that has got to count for something, doesn't it?_

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**Abarai Renji – Loyalty**

Abarai Renji will _never_ grow soft, _never_ complacent and never _truly_ fond of his goddamn captain. But Abarai Renji will, one day, realize three things: **one**, that the street mutt has grown powerful and strong, and that his fangs are long and sharp and vicious; **two**, that the cold, distant moon is no longer quite as far away as it used to be; and **three**, that his goddamn captain wouldn't want it any other way.

And what Abarai Renji feels for the man then will _not_ be loyalty, even though it is.


	7. Kotetsu Isane – Sisterly Concerns

_Not really a drabble, but Isane doesn't get half the attention she deserves. Set sometime in the far past._

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><p><strong>Kotetsu Isane – Sisterly Concerns<strong>

When she finds out, a whole week too late, that Kiyone – little, hopeless, adorable Kiyone, who should never, ever have been made a Shinigami to begin with – has been accepted into the Gotei Thirteen as a _Seat_, Fourth Division's Kotetsu Isane does something totally unheard of: she calls in sick (the irony of it all will only dawn on her later when it's too late to do anything about it) and hurries to Squad Thirteen with the vague notion of somehow talking some sense into its captain, who is rumoured to be a kind, sensible man.

But once she is let into his office reality finally hits home. She, a lowly officer from _Squad Four_ of all places, is about to go up against one of the oldest, most experienced, most powerful, most respected captains there is – _and what on earth was she even thinking coming here, unannounced, like this?_

_Kiyone._

She is looking out for Kiyone, because she has _always_ looked out for Kiyone.

Childish Kiyone, who only graduated from the Academy this year and couldn't _possibly_ be good enough to be a Seat yet;

tiny Kiyone, who is still so _young_;

stubborn Kiyone, who is all she has left.

_Please_, she wants to beg her little sister's captain. _Please don't take her away, too._

But she doesn't, because Kiyone's captain just _looks_ at her and then she _can't_.

They stay like that for a long, long time: she looking down at the floor without stating her business, and he waiting patiently even though they both know that she is wasting his time. But then the far door is suddenly flung open with a loud, resounding bang and a burst of familiar reiatsu ricochets around the room.

"Taichou!" booms the explosion, clearly worried. "Rin-chan said she saw someone from Fourth Division head for your office! Are you okay, taichou? Do you need anything? Just say the word and Kotsu_baka_ will get it for you!"

Not at all taken aback by the intrusion, the captain shakes his head. "It's alright. I'm feeling fine."

"Are you thirsty? Hungry?"

"Not at all."

"...really, taichou? You're _really_ okay?"

"Yes. Really. But thank you for your concern."

"No worries, taichou! I'm just glad you're okay!"

Isane, who has somehow managed to wedge her not-insignificant height behind the same door Kiyone slammed open, wonders briefly what Ukitake-taichou's secret is, because Kiyone can be terribly selfish and contrary.

"Ne, taichou, that idiot Kotsubaka got really worried!" Kiyone continues at that break-neck speed of hers. "He was _this_—" and Isane imagines that her sister is measuring out a tiny distance between her right thumb and index finger "—close to _crying_ when we heard!"

And almost as by kidou, a second presence rushes into the room, heading straight into the fray.

"Was _not_!" hisses a man (Kotsubaka-san?) indignantly. "Lies! All of it! Taichou, don't believe a word she says!"

"Was too!" taunts Kiyone happily and expertly, and the _glee_ in her voice almost makes Isane step forward to apologize on her behalf. "Why are your eyes red and puffy then?"

"They..." the man falters. "It's just an _eye infection_, dammit! Just an eye infection! I've got allergies, okay?!"

It isn't, of course. And Kiyone promptly dissolves into her special hyena-laugh, and even though Isane knows that it probably shouldn't, the knot in her stomach relaxes ever so slightly from hearing her laugh so freely. Kiyone rarely laughs like that at home.

"Kotsubaka is a crybaby! I can't wait to tell Kaien-fukutaichou!"

"What—no! And who are you calling 'Kotsubaka', you little pest! It's Kotsubak-i! Kotsubak-i!"

"Kotsubaka! Kotsubaka!"

"Shut up! Do you even know who you're—"

"We're the same rank, so bleh~!"

"You're still a newbie _and_ I'm older than you! Didn't your parents ever teach you to respect your elders?!"

Kiyone stops laughing and says, "Nee-chan taught me. And I respect taichou and nee-chan the most. Kaien-fukutaichou and Miyako-san, too. But that's it."

"Ehhh?! What about me?"

"Nee-chan always says that respect is _earned_... So buy me some snacks after training and I might consider it."

"That... That's extortion!"

"But respect is all about taking and giving."

"You litt—"

"_Kiyone! Sentarou! Get your sorry asses out here right now! Where are you? I didn't say we were finished!"_

"Uh, Kotsubaki? Kaien-fukutaichou sounds _mad_."

"No shit. Hey. You don't think..."

"Uh-huh. Like last time. Uh, we should probably..."

"Gotcha. Taichou! The pest and I must take our leave—"

"Who's a pest! Ne, don't worry, taichou! I'll be back before you know it!"

"What do you mean 'you'll be back'? I'll be back first!"

"No you won't, because you're _old_, remember? Which means you're slow and probably senile, too!"

"Five years, Kotetsu! It's only _five years_!"

"So you really think you can keep up with me, old man?"

"Who are you calling an old—"

Ukitake-taichou looks a little dazed when he waves the two-man pandemonium along, but is otherwise (mostly) unharmed, and once the bickering has faded into the distance, Kotetsu Isane emerges from her hideout, bows deeply and sincerely, and just_ a bit_ apologetically:

"Please take care of my loudmouth sister."

Then, Kotetsu Isane leaves.


	8. Kurosaki Ichigo – Like Him

_Because the similarities always were striking._

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**Kurosaki Ichigo – Like Him**

Kurosaki Ichigo will always regret the day that he foolishly asked about Shiba Kaien.

She had shocked him with her honesty; not that Rukia _wasn't_ mostly honest anyway, but he would never have expected the ill-tempered midget, who had somehow forced her way into his life (and his closet), to open up quite so readily.

("He really meant that much to you, huh."

"...yes.")

But in the end, it was the last thing she said that just really killed him.

"_You know, Ichigo, you sort of look like him."_


	9. Oomaeda Marechiyo – Captain, My Captain

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**Oomaeda Marechiyo – Captain, My Captain**

Newly recruited Oomaeda Marechiyo did not insist on – and subsequently pay for – the floor heating extending throughout the whole block of division quarters out of the goodness of his big, flashy heart (we of the _Onmistukidou_ know no mercy, know no kindness), but neither were his intentions entirely selfish (care for what you can, for anyone you can, whenever you can, _always_, because that's all there is to being a Seat, understand?). The worst of winter had been closing in on them, then, and his captain was tiny and stubborn and with absolutely no insulation of her own to speak of.

And decades – and much, much hardship – later, nothing much has changed. She is still his captain, and she is still tiny and too, too _thin_.

Sometimes, Oomaeda Marechiyo contemplates fattening her up a bit.

He'll never act on it, though, because being filthy rich doesn't automatically make you stupid. But he still looks out for her... in his own way.


End file.
